It’s as tragic as a story as you can find, honor student goes on a trip to Ghana to help give out supplies to an orphanage of children with AIDS. All Phylicia Moore wanted to do is travel to Ghana and be a help to those in need. Phylicia Moore was found dead at the bottom of the pool at the hotel where her classmates were staying. It seems that the police in Ghana are just as incompetent handling this case as the officials in Aruba are handling the Natalie Holloway case. The main difference is Phylicia Moore is black and and Natalie Holloway is white. That has to be the only reason why there has been no public interest in this tragic event. This has been like a tiny blip on the media radar and that may be an exaggeration.
As the FBI all but bullied its way into assisting the police in Aruba , they have taken a more passive stance with the Phylicia Moore case stating that they usually have to wait for the country officials to request assistance with cases involving Americans and the Police in Ghana have made no such request. Imagine that, the American officials are not disregarding another countries’ policies and laws. They sure have great timing. You would have thought Natalie Holloway was on the Bush Twins with the amount of coverage by the media and the way the FBI has been assisting with that case.
Phylicia Moore’s parents want justice and answer for their daughter and it seems they are getting no where with the investigation going on in Ghana. The autopsy that was performed in Ghana stated that there was no foul play and pending a toxicalogy report, it looks like an accident. This would be just a tragic accident if it were that simply. Phylicia Moore’s parents had an independent autopsy done and it was determined that Phylicia Moore’s body was not in the pool long meaning that her body was moved to the pool and drowning may not have been the cause of death.
There are so many questions that need to be answered in this case. Why did the adults in charge not do a bed check at night in a foreign country with all that has happened the last couple of years? Why have only the students and the adults been questioned in this case and no one else? Why not check the security cameras during the 11 hour span that Phylicia Moore was unaccounted for? Why no demand for involvement in this case by the FBI?
and finally …… What happened to Phylicia Moore?
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We all know the media loves white crimes, and hate on black on black wickedness. But I do think if it happens in American, like South America, Central America and in North America. Maybe, just maybe some other media would of at less talk about it some.
But a lot of Africa countries don’t or will not spend a lot of time and money, on persons from the USA. When people in there own country are involved in foul play.
MillionMM or Robert Ellis
Thank you for raising my awareness on this issue. I agree. Americans traveling abroad nowadays are in great danger. I feel sorrow for her family. I hope it was an accident. I hope for the truth.
Thank you again.
-Divine Lavender
Hey MM, thanks for the comments.
You are so right about that , but we need to change it. Phylicia deserves as much attention as the Holloway case.
DivineLavendar - thanks for comments, we need to the bullhorn on the internet and raise awareness of these issues.
Mr. LW, Thank you for putting this news out as usual our Black lives are played to a lower standard in the media unless its something to play to white fear! I saw this on the Field Negro blog and had to link over to check this out.
Ensayn - thanks for stopping by, we must always bring our own news to the masses, because we can’t depend on mainstream media
Yes. Much like the shootings at Kent State vs Jackson State more than 35 years ago.
Meanwhile, is there an individual who can organize the “pr” campaign like Natalee’s mother did? She was severly critized for seeking the limelight. While some have criticized Natalee’s mother for turning her daughter’s disappearance into an “international incident” – after all, they argue, there are an estimated 58,000 children abducted by non-family members – Beth Holloway-Twitty deserves great credit for keeping the media machine focused on Natalee’s plight.
I have a 15 year old daughter who is about to go on a mission trip this Sunday. I pray that she and all those who seek to carry out God’s work return safely.
In these halcyon days of unregulated capitalism, unfettered corporatism, thinly veiled colonialism, and blatant imperialism, it is no shock that what was true 30 years ago is still true today. The death of any American Black - young, old, male, female, in the US or elsewhere - would only be of interest in the US if it somehow portrayed the disgusting, subhuman, debased, debauched, perverted, degenerate, miscreant, and/or putrid way of life of said victim or of said Black race in general. In this instance, we have a young teen aged girl who chose to step up to the challenge of living, to step up to the challenge of the “Christian” ethic of helping others, to live the “good and moral” life. As you well know, Black people don’t do that. As you well know, there is great danger in allowing the knowledge that one Black person actually behaved like a human being. Though, it could be beneficial to let it slip out that if a Black chose the path of the good and righteous, his/her life will be cut short. Now, that’s something to be considered!
Chris Brown - thanks for coming by, and yes great point about Holloway’s Mom, but the question you have to ask yourself is how do we know there was no pr work with Phylicia Moore’s parents, maybe the media just didn’t deem it a big story.
Lynn - powerful comments, and I could agree with you more!
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Barbara Walters who has recently given Paris Hilton, currently in jail ‘free publicity.’ She spoke briefly today (6/13) on The View about the young African American woman who went missing in Miami, Florida during Memorial day weekend. Barbara turned to the guest co-host, journalist Jacque Reid, and asked her if she belived there was any truth to rumors that the case has struggled to reach the national media because the victim is black. Barbara knows better-She has been in the business forever-She knows the deal-Yes, this lack of media attention to equally important people such as Phylicia Moore has immediate racial undertones-Just look at the amount of attention recently given to the young white girl found dead in Kansas. Thanks to the attention the case received, the girl and her abductor/murderer were found within days of her disappearance. I shutter to think of the amount of time wasted and evidence lost when this foul play occurs and lacks critical and timely attention. I have sent an e-mails to Barbara Walters and others posing the same questions and concerns regarding Phylicia (and others) I am reading on this blog-So for any of you reading and responding, take a few extra moments and flood the mailboxes of these media hotshots like Barbara Walters-Turn ‘yourself’ into the PR solution for the tragic issues at hand. If American Idol can get 20-50 million calls in one night within 2 hours….You know the rest!
Hello I know this is an old post, but I heard about it at field negro’s blog and had to read it I am doing a post about racial relations
[…] are of her and she will never be able to ponder what life has in store for her becaue it was cut short in Ghana on April 16th. She is not Natalie Holloway so there has be barely a blip on the news about her, but her story is […]
Thank you for sharing this appalling story with the viewers. My prayers go out to Miss Phylicia Moore’s family. May Phylicia’s soul rest in peace. This is absolutely outrageous! I would hate to believe that this has to do with race but more to do with politics, which makes me even that much more concerned about those who are in office and supposedly representing the people of the United States of America. What can we do? Whom do we call? Whom do we write? Where do we start? Thank you again for bringing this devastating incident to all of our attention. I just pray for this nation and the state of things and for it to get better before it gets any worse.
Peace,
Gustavia
Thank you for pointing me back to this missing woman. I look forward to your update.
peace, Villager
[…] have all heard about the tragedy that happened to Phylicia Moore, an African-American girl from Teaneck, NJ that was on a good will tour in Ghana. I’m quite […]
Another thing to keep in mind.. Natalie is missing, making hwe case more sensational..What happened to her? Where is she? Might she still be alive. The original news coverage was about Have you seen her.
This is the first time that I have heard about this sistah. I am sorry to learn of her untimely death and the pain her family is going through.
I will definitely be writing about this within the next few days. We need to educate and speak up in support of justice for this young woman and her family.
A year later and I continue to wonder - if only the chaperones had checked the rooms/roommates reported missing roommate etc.
Somebody saw something! Investigation could have started moments after, and the list of “what if’s” go on.
April 13, 2008
I write to assure all you bloggers that many of us white people are as appalled by the death of Phylicia Moore as any black person is. I remember reading about it when it was first reported a year ago. I live in Woodcliff Lake, N. J. which is not far from Teaneck. Lawrence AAron, a columnist for North Jersey’s biggest daily newspaper, The Record, did an update on the tragedy a few days ago and urged support for Phylicia’s Law, the legislation proposed by U. S. Representative Steve Rothman of Fair Lawn, N.J., which requires schools to improve safeguards for children on overnight school trips.
I immediately E-mailed a “Letter to the Editor” , copied to everybody on my mailing list, briefly summarizing the tragedy and urging them all to support the proposed law via: http://www.phyliciaslaw.com
This morning I went on the Internet to re-read the original reports and it finally hit me that although Phylicia’s life was over, the school tour went right on with its itinerary. Further rereading has convinced me that the Moores have been fighting a conspiracy of silence and I plan to keep yelling until somebody starts talking. BTK
I just did! What happened to it?